Pet Reprogramming
by JazzTheTiger
Summary: Bumblebee goes missing for several months, just when the autobots lose hope for him, he turns up on their doorstep a VERY changed mech. Can the Autobot team work out who did this to him and what traumatic experiences he had to endure while he was gone?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Really short chapter, written for this pic http :/jazzthetiger. deviantart. com/art /Petting-A-KittyBee-283765462 (mines the spaces) I don't know if I'll go very far with this fic. I have such a short attention span DX**

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><p>It had been six months since Bumblebee had disappeared.<p>

He had gone out for a drive one night after a particularly heated argument with Prowl to cool off, and hadn't been seen since.

When morning came and found the minibot still missing from the base, the Earth team began to worry.

By late evening, the remaining four autobots had searched half of Detroit between them.

After 2 months, they stopped scanning for his spark signature, and began searching creeks and ditches for his body instead.

None searched harder than Prowl, the ninja bot felt guilty for Bumblebee's disappearance. If he had simply walked away from the argument, it would not have escalated into a screaming match, and Bee would never have left the base that night.

As it was, Bumblebee had been gone for six months, and they had all accepted in their own ways that Bumblebee was as good as offline. Except for Prowl, he stubbornly refused to give up hope and give into that line of thinking. As long as there was no evidence of his offlining, there was still hope he was still alive somewhere.

What Prowl found next changed the way he felt about that.

Prowl was glumly walking out from the base, about to start a patrol when a glimmer of a familiar shade of yellow caught his optic. It was outside the base's gates, under the shade of a tree, low hanging branches obscured it from view.

Curious, and with no small amount of hope, Prowl approached. He started a little when it moved, it was definitely alive. With swift but silent steps, Prowl closed the distance to the gates. His spark leapt in joy as he was able to distinguish Bumblebee's silhouette under the shade of the tree. He excitedly commed the team leader, Optimus Prime to tell him the good news. They'd finally found Bumblebee, and he was alive, Prowl could apologize and make things right.

"Prime! I've found Bumblebee-" Prowl suddenly cut off his sentence.

Something was wrong.

Bumblebee was crouched low to the ground.

Then he noticed the gleaming chain wrapped around the tree, trailing up to Bumblebee and linked to a collar around his neck.

A long yellow tail curled around Bumblebee's pedes, twitching restlessly amongst the leaves.

Cat-like ears where bumblebee's stubby little horns used to be were flattened against his helm.

Bumblebee was watching him with wide, alarmed optics.

He was the picture of a cornered animal.

"Prowl? Is he…" Prime's concerned voice crackled through his comm link

"He's online" Prowl hastily replied "… but there's something wrong, something's been done to him" Prowl was pacing now, Bumblebee's wary optics tracked his every movement.

"What is it? Is he injured?"

"No. He's been… modified, not just physically, but in the processor I think, you just have to see him to know what I mean."

"Where are you? I'll help you bring him back home"

"I'm at the gates"

"… What!" Prime, thoroughly surprised, walked out to the front entrance to see Prowl across their expansive industrial yard, crouched out near the gates, seemingly observing a tree. He called Ratchet and Bulkhead out from their activities and together the three of them joined Prowl at the gates.

Prowl had crouched under the shade of the tree with Bumblebee in an attempt to coax him out, but the minibot would have none of it, backing away as far as the chain would allow. Upon seeing the rest of the team approach, Bumblebee began to hiss and snarl, occasionally lashing out with clawed fingers, leaving Prowl no choice but to back away. He didn't want to stress Bumblebee out any more than he had to.

Prowl sighed in defeat, shoulders slumping, there was no sign of recognition in Bee's faceplates, it was as though Bumblebee's processor had been replaced with the relatively primitive mind of a cat.

Prime and Ratchet knelt down beside him, gazing into the shadows, Bulkhead peered anxiously over their shoulders and spotted Bumblebee's yellow plating.

"Bumblebee!" He shouted happily, the sudden noise causing Bumblebee to yowl in terror and thrash against his bindings.

That's when the kneeling bots saw his modifications and his strange behaviour. Prime gasped in shock and Ratchet cursed.

Ratchet looked at Bumblebee again and swore some more "When I find out who reprogrammed him, I'm going to reconfigure them into a toaster!"

Prowl looked at the medic expectantly, hoping the other would be able to explain the minibot's situation better, he wasn't disappointed.

"Someone has reprogrammed him into a pet drone" Ratchet began, addressing the younger bots surrounding him "Normally drones are manufactured specifically for being pets, and some are occasionally reprogrammed, but never have I heard of a mech being reprogrammed into one… I would have thought our processors are too complex for this sort of thing to work… I don't know how extensive his reprogramming is, or if his memory banks have been wiped… and Primus... I... I don't know if I can reverse it either" Ratchet finished sombrely.

"Poor Bumblebee" Bulkhead murmured sadly "Even if doc-bot managed to fix him, I don't think he could live with knowing what he was. He would never be the same bot again"

The others silently agreed with him, this was a punishment worse than death for Bumblebee. It was as though whoever planned this wanted the yellow minibot to suffer as much as possible.

"We need to get him back to the med-bay so I can be sure he's not injured, and find out what's been done to him" Ratchet said breaking the thick silence.

The rest nodded and watched as Prowl once again tried to get a hold of Bumblebee.

The cat-bot yowled and darted away, breath hissing out as he hyperventilated, being surrounded by so many large and imposing bots had his electro-magnetic field flaring with terror. The ninja recoiled as he felt Bumblebee's oppressive presence brush against his own.

"Ratchet, you need to knock him out with your EMP generator, he's too frightened to be cooperative" He told the medic as he moved out of range.

The old red and white ambulance did just that, Bumblebee collapsed limply to the ground in stasis as soon as the EMP blast hit him. Prime was quick to move forward and pick the limp mech up bridal style, whilst Bulkhead easily snapped the chain that had bound him to the tree.

They took him back to the base in a heavy silence, they had found their comrade's body, but the rest of him seemed to have been lost.

Much to Ratchet's relief, Bumblebee was unharmed physically, and his memory banks were relatively untouched, save for a small bit of complex encrypted coding which prevented Bumblebee from accessing them. He didn't have the expertise to decode and remove it. He needed help and the only way to get that would be to contact Cybertron, there was a chance Cybertron's top scientists Perceptor and Wheeljack could help.


	2. Chapter 2

_HISSSSSSSS!_

Old joints creaked in protest to the awkward crouch the veteran medic had gotten into in pursuit of a certain yellow minibot.

Said 'bot had somehow managed to tuck himself into a storage cabinet amongst the medical equipment in Ratchet's medbay. The poor old mech had nearly had a spark attack when he returned to his medbay to find the supposedly sedated minibot _gone_. Only to discover his missing patient had slunk underneath the med-berth when his ankles were promptly clawed at, the resulting distraction allowing the mech turned cat-bot to streak past and dive into the nearest hidey hole. And he wasn't coming out until he had at least shredded Ratchet's servo to tatters.

Ratchet cursed that the cabinet was metal, he'd have been able to use his magnetic fields to drag the hissing and scratching bundle of robot out otherwise. He tried to pull him out by the tail the first go, but since that had failed, Kittybee – as that was what Sari (their unofficial human ambassador and team member) had nicknamed him upon rushing to the base to see her best friend- had kept everything tucked safely out of easy reach. Easy- as in 'not-losing-hands-in-the-process'. So naturally, Ratchet was cursing up a storm which really wasn't going to convince an already skittish cat-bot to come out. This in turn drew the only other present members of the base, Optimus Prime and Sari Sumdac, to gather outside the open door of the medbay to peer inside curiously. The other two mechs, Prowl and Bulkhead were currently on their shift patrolling the city of Detroit for Decepticon threats and human criminal activity.

Upon seeing Ratchet doing a fairly good job of intimidating their felinesque crew member into crawling even deeper into the cabinet, both Optimus and Sari frowned.

"HEY! You're _scaring_ him, bolts-for-brains!" Sari snapped as she used her trusty jet-pack to hover into the medbay, and closer to the crouching old mech who was now cautiously peering into the depths of the cabinet.

"_Thankyou_ for stating the obvious!" the old medic snarked right back, "But the slagger needed a proper refueling _months_ ago. He's in no condition to be up and about after having his systems starved for so long!"

"Yes, but perhaps you should try a more… _subtle_ approach to getting him out of there, Ratchet." Optimus calmly interrupted before they really got started with the banter, while most days it was perfectly acceptable, but Bumblebee was quite _unstable_ right now.

"Yeah? I got your subtle, right here…" Ratchet muttered under his breath, one of his digits transforming into a needle, no doubt filled with sedatives.

Both Sari and Optimus cringed in sympathy at the loud caterwaul of pain that the cat-mech unleashed, heralding a successful injection, and the following grunt of pain as Ratchet's now hidden servo was promptly attacked in the dark space of the cabinet.

Ratchet grimaced as he pulled his servo away to safety, examining the damage he'd been rewarded for his efforts while he waited for the sedative to take effect on Bee's systems.

Sari hovered over his shoulder, regarding the scratches with skepticism. "Why didn't you just use an EMP? You wouldn't have even had to stick your hand in there!"

The old medic for the time being ignored her, reaching back into the cabinet and dragging a now limp and blessedly quiet Kittybee out.

"Because..." He finally drawled as he deposited the bundle of trouble onto the med-berth "The EMP is too risky to use on an unstable processor. It abruptly forces the processor into shut-down and the system into stasis. Sedatives shut down the systems more naturally into a recharge, it's best for non-critical situations and doesn't have the program errors when the patient onlines again." Ratchet explained to the young human, who had unofficially become an apprentice medic since the loss of the allspark empowered key that used to heal the autobots.

Ratchet re-inserted the previously rejected energon drip into the medical port hidden by Bumblebee's chest armour, it had no doubt been pulled out during the cat-bot's escape from berth-rest. It was now a matter of waiting for Kittybee's systems to get used to having energon again and begin self-repair on the damage created from starvation.

He had sent a message to the science division regarding Bumblebee's current situation, but Ratchet knew it would take a few Earth days at least before the message was in the servos of the mechs he sought contact with. This was due to Earth's atmospheric conditions and the distance, and also because as head scientists, Perceptor or Wheeljack would be rather busy and it may take some time before they read his message.

Likewise Optimus had sent a report of the situation to the Elite Guard, informing them that their missing comrade had been found but was no longer fit for duty. Now it was just a matter of waiting for someone from Cybertron to get back to them on the issue, and to help Kittybee in his recovery. Ratchet had no doubt that as soon as Kittybee onlined he was going to run again, so it was in his best interest to administer a longer lasting sedative to ensure the mech was safely fueled before being active again.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Kittybee was out of sight, _again_, but an energy signature sweep granted by Teletraan's systems confirmed that he was in-fact still inside the old factory site that housed the autobots as a makeshift base. The locating beacon wasn't precise enough to tell the crew _exactly_ where in the base he was though, and that's why the entire earth team was constantly on edge.

Bee was still wary of them and kept his distance, the only apparent reason he still lingered about was for the presence of 'food'… The system satisfying energon found in bowls that had been conveniently left out for him. He hadn't yet figured out that the cubes contained the same substance and ignored them in favour of more accessible options.

The sight of Bumblebee hunched down on all fours to lap up the energon from a bowl was almost as disturbing to the team as the sight of Bumblebee moving about on all fours in an attempted imitation of the earth's feline species. Of course Bumblebee's frame wasn't built for four legged movement, which in addition to disturbing, made the whole spectacle look downright awkward. Given that Kittybee made for an uncomfortable encounter, and that due to whatever previously bad experiences Kittybee had with other cybertronians during his time in this state, it was little wonder they avoided each other.

Kittybee had taken to curling up in dark corners and other unexpected places which caused them many minor spark attacks when they happened upon him. He saw them approaching while they remained completely oblivious to his presence until the last second. As such, when one thought they were completely alone in a room, it was best to double check anyway. They had taken to paranoid rituals including; checking dark corners with headlights and torches, peering underneath furniture, and peeking into cabinets and other storage facilities for a familiar set of glowing blue optics to online and stare back at them from the shadows.

Rarely was he caught out in broad daylight.

This was precisely why Prowl let out an undignified startled yell and slipped from the ceilings' support beams, where he had been previously performing his usual agility routines.

Kittybee had been up there basking in the warm golden sunlight filtering through the roof's glass panes. Prowl hadn't seen him there - too focused in the moment as he was- and had landed with a pede on his tail, the cat-mech had screeched in pain and quick-as-a-flash, lashed out with clawed servos, startling the ninja-bot enough for him to lose balance.

By the time the rest of the crew had appeared to witness Prowl on the floor muttering darkly and massaging sore joints, Kittybee had long since vanished from the scene.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

It had been a week since they'd found their team-mate at the front gates, reprogrammed into a domestic cat, and the autobots stationed at Earth still hadn't heard back from Cybertron. Nor did they have any true leads on who had reprogrammed Bumblebee, although they had at least worked out a list of likely and possible suspects.

Ratchet was no closer to cracking the bit of code that kept Bumblebee from accessing his own memories, the most he could do was monitor the mech's vitals and make sure there were no serious errors or glitches.

This was not a particularly easy task, as Kittybee had a knack for knowing when it was 'time' for a visit to the medbay and made himself even scarcer than usual. Nobody wanted to volunteer for seeking out Kittybee, it took ages to find him because he would _move to a new hiding place_ the moment he knew he was being hunted for.

Then there was the matter of catching him and then carrying him to the medbay. Fortunately, Bulkhead and Prowl had worked out a system, Prowl would hunt and chase using his speed and stealthy ninja skills, and Bulkhead would catch and hold, his strength and thick armour mostly impervious to Kittybee attacks and escape attempts.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Despite being occasionally grabbed for, Kittybee was becoming bolder, he was seen around the base more often, and found sleeping in places that were regularly visited by the 'bots, like the couch. He even tolerated being in the same room as some of them, although only certain mechs had that privilege, and it was not Ratchet and Prowl.

Sari, however was not to be left alone with Kittybee in the base, the rule had been established after the first time Kittybee pounced her, his feline programming mistaking her as prey. Ratchet had absolutely no desire for performing a systems flush on Bumblebee to clear his fuel tanks of fleshy human… _bits_.

As Kittybee got bolder in the autobot's presence, Prime was on the verge of banning Sari from the base, it seemed nothing could deter Kittybee from stalking her for long.

And then Sari suggested to squirt water at him when he was being troublesome, a method many cat owners used to deter their pet from various unsavoury behaviours. It had proven to be surprisingly effective on Kittybee too, Prowl and Bulkhead thought his reaction to a hosing of water in the face hilarious. It had involved a lot of flailing, helm-shaking and backpedalling on Kittybee's part, followed by a withering glare and a clumsy retreat out of sight.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

A week and a half after being found, Kittybee only put up a token fight when it was time to visit the medbay.

Ratchet had made sure that nothing painful was done and to keep the cat-mech as calm as he could, at first it had been gelled energon treats to get him to remain still during a scan. Now he need only to rub him behind the pointed ears for compliance, as Kittybee seemed to enjoy the sensation enough to purr, and even demand more with a headbutting to the arm.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Prowl sighed tiredly as he trudged back to his quarters after a long evening of searching for the errant Decepticon techno-organic, Blackarachnia.

She hadn't been found, but she was one of the suspected causes of Bumblebee's current state, given her history of mutating others with organics.

The plan was simple, find and interrogate each of the suspects they had on their list, someone was bound to know about it at least. Simple didn't mean it was going to be easy though, these suspects were either high profile human criminals, or Decepticon Elite.

Once inside his quarters, Prowl noticed there were feathers strewn about beneath his tree, he froze, there was also splatters of blood and what he initially thought was a pile of feathers was actually half a bird wing. Prowl grimaced, the sight alone making him feel nauseous and called up the resident medic's communication frequency.

"Ratchet, can you come to my quarters? We have a… situation."

A few moments later, Ratchet huffed as he stomped into the room.

"If you're injured you should have just reported into the med-bay not-" Ratchet's tirade trailed off as he noticed that Prowl wasn't injured, and after inspecting his surroundings, noticed the half eaten bird.

"_**Oh**_. No fragging way. Please tell me this is a joke..." Ratchet grimaced and shuddered at the thought that Kittybee may have eaten...

And then he saw the comatose cat-bot lying on his side in the dark corner.

Kittybee had eaten the bird, and he looked positively ill from it too.

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><p>AN:<p>

Heeey long time no see! I've been at this second chapter on and off since the first one was uploaded, whenever the mood struck me I guess. This was all I was going to get done for tonight, no idea when/if the next one is coming, but this is a fun muse my brain likes returning to, so we shall see.

It's more fun for me to write various kittybee moments rather than try and make it all plotty -I did try and throw a bit of progress and plot into some of those moments though!

I do want to write a scene where Kittybee finds a cardboard box... IF IT FITS I SITS.


End file.
